Cengelkoy
is a picturesque district on the Asian shore of
the Bosphorus between Beylerbeyi and Vanikoy.
Its history can be traced back to Byzantine times,
when Theodora, wife of the Emperor Justinian,
founded the Metonaia Convent in this forested
area. The name Metonaia means repentance in ancient
Greek, and if the story is true, the empress cloistered
repentant prostitutes here.
Cengelkoy was a largely Greek settlement
following the Turkish conquest of Istanbul, although
in time some Muslim Turks made their home here.
The oldest mosque, Haci Omer Mosque,
is said to date from the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror
(1451-1481), and around the same time a royal
park was established here. In the 17th century
the Ottoman writer Evliya Celebi says that
words are incapable of describing the beautiful
avenues between orchards and gardens behind the
village, and after remarking that the community
is mainly Greek with just a few Muslims, goes
on to tell us that the royal park is as magnificent
as the mythical Garden of Irem

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The
village, he explains, is 'prosperous, attractive,
and charming, a lodge of beloved women.' He records
that it contains 3060 two-storey houses constructed
of stone. Celebi's estimate of the number
of houses seems to have been exaggerated, as a
19th century census put the number of houses at
just 650. If we compare his figures for the other
towns and villages along the Bosphorus, we find
that Cengelkoy was the largest on
the Asian shore after Uskudar.

The royal estate mentioned by Evliya Celebi
was a favourite resort of Sultan Murad IV (1623-1640),
and Mehmed IV (1648-1687) used to come here in
early summer for the cherry season. To supply
sufficient cherries for the royal party to pluck
from the branches, the crops from all the cherry
trees in the area were purchased. In 1676 the
same sultan purchased a country house set in a
8000 square metre garden, and a three hectare
vineyard from a wealthy Jew of Cengelkoy
named Kupelioglu Salamon.

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Early in the 18th century Hatice Sultan, daughter
of Ahmed III, had a waterfront mansion in Cengelkoy
which stood next to the landing stage used by
the large rowing boats known as kayiks
which transported people to and from the city.
Hatice Sultan, who died at the young age of 29,
was mother of the famous chronicler Suleyman
Izzi Efendi. Kaymak Mustafa Pasa,
son-in-law of the famous grand vezir to Ahmed
III, Damat ibrahim Pasa, also had
a waterfront mansion called Ferahâbad here.
Both men were murdered in the Patrona Rebellion.
The records of the bostancibasi,
head of the organisation which policed the Bosphorus,
provide us with detailed information about the
settlements along the Bosphorus between 1750 and
1825, revealing that many Ottoman Armenians settled
in Cengelkoy during this period.

One of the surviving waterfront mansions in Cengelkoy
is that of Abdullah Pasa, the son of a Cengelkoy
boatman named Safranbolulu Ali Aga.

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Abdullah
Pasa entered the palace service at young
age and rose to become grand vezir. A notable
Cengelkoy family were the Koceoglus,
who made their fortune trading in cashmere shawls
before Agop Koceoglu and his son
Kirkor became famous bankers, managing the financial
affairs of the leading figures of the time. As
well as a waterfront mansion, the family owned
a large farm and country house on the hillside
above the village. This house was later purchased
by Sultan Abdulaziz (1861-1876), and some
time afterwards became the property of his nephew
Vahideddin, who was to reign as Mehmed VI, the
last Ottoman sultan, between 1918 and 1922. Sultan
Abdulmecid (1839-1861) also liked to visit
Cengelkoy.

The magnificent waterfront house known today as
Sadullah Pasa House dates from the early
19th century.

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Its first owner was grand vezir Koca Yusuf Pasa,
and the house was inherited by his daughter Emine
Hanim, who married High Admiral Seydi Ali
Pasa. Their son Hamid Pasa was a spendthrift,
and when the sultan pardoned his sentence of exile
celebrated by treating the entire population of
Cengelkoy to a feast and illuminating
the hills around with lanterns. Mahmud II (1808-1839)
had a fright when he saw the blaze of light from
his palace in Besiktas, thinking that
Cengelkoy was in flames.

Eventually the extravagant Hamid Pasha sold the
mansion to Ayasli Esat Muhlis Pasa,
and it was inherited by his son Sadullah Pasa,
a diplomat and noted literary figure.

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Sultan Abdulhamid II (1876-1909) wished for
some reason to keep Sadullah Pasa out of the way,
and having appointed him ambassador to Vienna,
refused to let him return to Istanbul despite
all his pleas. Finally, in despair, Sadullah Pasa
committed suicide. His wife Necibe Hanim was crazed
by grief, and every day put on the pink dress
which had been her husbnd'se favourite to wait
for his return. A moving poem by Turgut Uyar,
entitled 'Iffet Hanim, a Woman of Virtue', might
have been written for her: 'My lamb, when did
you die? / My pasa, for the love of God when?'

So that is the story of Cengelkoy,
beginning with the Empress Theodora and ending
with the unfortunate Necibe Hanim.

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I
leave off my account here. There is no need
to draw it out further. But Cengelkoy
is there to see, still charming, and still with
its vendors of those tiny delicious cucumbers
for which it is so famous, although these are
no longer grown in its own market gardens.